House Rs Want To Re-Open The Budget.

If You Noticed The State ...... tilting about 45 degrees to the right around lunchtime, it might have been
because a cadre of fiscal conservatives gathered in the Capitol media center to call on the General Assembly to save the state from its own fiscal excesses.

Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, was among the lawmakers who pleaded for spending cuts to help avert what he says could be a roughly $800 million to $2 billion shortfall next year.

"We are not here to take advantage of decreased [state] revenues to make a point," Rohrer said at the tail end of a week that's found Wall Street bankers making pretend dollar bills out of printer paper so they could delude themselves into thinking that they were staving off the destruction of modern capitalism as we know it.

"During the budget, we spoke out repeatedly against massive borrowing and the crushing tax burden on Pennsylvanians," Rohrer continued.

For Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Blair, the current crisis just proves that lawmakers rarely act until the roof is falling in around their ears.

"Preparedness is certainly one of our problems," he said. "We are generally not very prepared. Although we have unlimited resources, we generally tuck the tough decisions and don't do the work until we're jammed up against the wall."

As you might imagine, House Democrats say there's pretty much no chance that they'll be reopening the budget this fall.

"We are 10 weeks into the new fiscal year. It's far too early to panic.
The governor took the appropriate steps earlier this week, and we
continue to monitor the situation," said Johnna Pro, a spokeswoman for House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans.